Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-05-18
HUDSON'S BAY NATIVES.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MIXED
RACES IN TIE NORTHWEST.

A People Who Get on in the World
| without the Use OF Money-Some
| peculiarities in Funeral Customs and
Second Marriages.
| Especial Correspondence
| OTTAWA, Ont, May1
| Those who have never seen life as it exists
among the inhabitants Of the Hudson's Bay
country would be astonished at the extent Of
civilization found among a class OF people
generally supposed to be savages, as well as at
the awful grandeur of the scenery and forbid
ding aspect of the graveyard coasts along the
| shores of that northern sea. In all the unin-
habitable region of North America there is
nowhere to be found more bleak, desolate
or dreary waste than that between Ungava
| bay off the coast of Labrador ON the east,
| and Fort Churchill on the west and southern
! part of Hudson Bay proper. Although little
is known yet regarding this weird and frozen
region, it has had a growth within the last
half century which has been something phe-
nomenal, and having been measured accord
ing 10 its needs by the God of Nature has
gone on advancing from age to age. until at
| the present time pot alone the more fertile
islands but the extent of land back from the
coast on either side is thickly populated by
people who hunt and fish and breed and talk
| and chatter even among the misery and desti-
tuition which life in region Of per-
petual frost and snow must bring Hud-
| sons Boy itself is really an inland sea,
extending between latitude 81 deg.
and 81 deg. north and longitude n deg and
95 deg west, and while about !, 600 miles long
at its greatest distance, is only about 600 miles
in BREADTH covering an area of over SOC, 600
square miles. 1t is navigable only for about
three months in the year-from the middle of
June to the middle of Superintendent for the
remainder of the year is filed with drift ice,
which renders navigation, even for a short
distance, an absolute iInpossibity. The
eastern coasts Of the bay are sights to be ad-
mred, cliffs rising in many cases to height
of from 200 to 400 feet abruptly from the
waters edge and being composed Of glacier
like substance which, being ever coated with
ice and frozen snow, shine in the sunlight I'M
til it is almost impossible to look at them for
any length of time. The residents of this
section are not properly Esquimaux, but a
cross between this race and the French and
Indians, who have come in for the purpose of
hunting and fishing and finally settled down
among the natives to live as they do and share
"ith thCii III lue pi1VdUlOuS WDtcn no other
life affords. On an average, in the summer
months, the thermometer stands at about As
degrees above, while the temperature in the
winter runs as low as 60 degrees below zero
and will average about % degrees below
Fish are scarce and can be caught only
In the rivers, OF which ON the east there is
only the Great Whale, while on the west
there is the Hayes, Nelson, Churchill. Moore.
Albany, Weeknisk, Main and Abbitibbe
Seal abound i'll plenty, but are extremely shy
and hard for the natives to get at, while por-
pose and walrus are equally difficult to get
hold Of. Were it not for the small fur bear
ing animals which are about the shores the
poor halfbreeds would stand a very good
chance of perishing by hunger, as they can
expect nothing in the way of fayors from ~,
Hudson Bay company's stores, few of which
are along the coast The natives live in little
villages composed of from fifty to a hundred
rude huts. Each community has its place of
worship and its church burial ground. which
is consecrated by the Moravian missionaries.
few of whom are to be found wandering
about from village to village, from the east,
ern extent of the settlements down as far az
Fort Churchill on the west. These faithful.
devoted men expect no recompense for their
services, and if they did they wouldn't get it.
LOT tnere is not III all the country such a
thing as money, the only exchange being in
fish, oil or furs. Whenever one of a tribe
dies the rest of his family-meaning by that
the entire settlement-stop work for the
day and prepare to bury him. II the
settlement possesses such thing as dinner
bell, and the most of them do, the Oldest man
in the village goes about from hut to hut and
rings the bell in front of each until the occu-
pants come out, both big and little, and, falling
into line, march after him. When the circuit
has been madc and big and little are all col
lected, march is made for the Kirote, as il
is called the village church, which consists OF
about an acre of ground simply incosed by a
wall OF stones near the middle of the com
munity. Into this little field go the entire
populace, and after chanting the virtues O.
the dead for some hours, the corpse is taken
away on skin rock and covered with ice and
snow i'll the common burial plot The rest o!
the day is spent in rejoicing, and the next day.
If the deceased was married, his better hal,
makes another choice, and at the end of
week, if an agreement be come to, the dead |
forgotten and the no longer sorrowing one,
peG'h Lie over again. G. E. GEORGE
Inventor of the Car Truck.
Readers of the present generation do not